Month: July 2017

For more than a decade, Scott Sohr has been working as an entrepreneur in Tennessee. The president of STS Ventures, a startup incubator, he oversees the conception and development of startups in a range of industries, including real estate, healthcare, and financial technology. Outside of work, Scott Sohr supports such charitable organizations as Best Buddies International.

Best Buddies, an organization dedicated to serving individuals with disabilities, divides its programs into three main pillars: one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, and leadership development. Through its leadership development programs – Ambassadors and Promoters – the organization empowers and educates individuals with and without disabilities to become advocates for an inclusive world.

The Best Buddies Ambassadors program helps individuals with IDD develop self-esteem and public speaking skills. By offering advocacy and public speaking training, the program prepares individuals to advocate for both themselves and others before their communities, local businesses, and legislators. Individuals who participate in the Ambassadors program have continual access to advocacy training from the Best Buddies staff.

Meanwhile, the Promoters program prepares youth to open new Best Buddies programs and chapters. These individuals also receive ongoing support from the organization and each Promoters chapter is assigned a Best Buddies staff member and faculty advisor. With the help of these leaders, Promoters connect with individuals with IDD and work to establish a special education program at their school. They also host events and fundraisers on and off campus that include individuals with IDD.

The co-founder of Health Cost Solutions, Elmington Capital Group, and Stonegate Land, Scott Sohr works in a number of industries, from healthcare and fintech to real estate. However, his primary professional focus revolves around leading STS Ventures. Scott Sohr serves as the president of STS Ventures and oversees the company’s startup incubation operations.

Joining a startup incubator provides startups with invaluable resources and support and helps them grow significantly faster. However, it’s important to find the right incubator for your company to ensure you reap all the benefits.

In most situations, the process of finding the right incubator starts with completing plenty of research. Ideally, you should research everything you can about an incubator, from the industries it serves to the mentoring services it offers. Make sure every potential incubator meets your startup’s needs and that it provides experienced and knowledgeable support within your field. Referrals are a great way to start off this process, but you can also complete research without them.

Further, look into an incubator’s previous startups. Doing so helps you see what industries an incubator has experience with and provides you with a clearer idea of an incubator’s success rates. This also gives you a better idea of a particular incubator’s value. You want to choose an incubator that provides the most value for the price you are willing to pay.

Once you have a few options available, you can focus more on getting accepted by an incubator. This involves making sure your startup is established enough and that your company has a clear history and story behind it. You must also be sure that your startup has already established its fundamentals and that the services it provides are beneficial to the market.